Tips Round-Up: Syllabi
A syllabus does a lot of heavy lifting - don't forget to make it engaging & student-centered...
It’s August! Nearly back-to-school time for folks in North America, and you’ve probably (if reluctantly) turned your thoughts to getting ready for the new semester. This month I have a series of Tips planned with back-to-school topics: preparing a syllabus, making a time/workload management plan, and strategies for first-day and first-week activities.
The syllabus is the first exchange between instructor and student - although it’s not the first thing you develop! If you’re still in the course (re)design phase, please check out the 7-part series from last summer that walks you through a backward design approach to redesigning a course - and students often have access to the syllabus, even if only last semester’s version, before the semester starts. For some of us, students may decide whether or not to take our class based on what they read in the syllabus. It’s an important document that needs to serve many purposes, which can lead to it being a place where we dump everything in fear of leaving anything out. I would urge you to resist the “kitchen sink” model and pare down, or at least find ways to highlight what students really need from the syllabus.
Syllabus as a Relationship-Building Document. Last August, I shared resources for writing your syllabus that specifically focus on how a syllabus is a place for building relationships with and between students. I shared an example of how I revised a syllabus to focus on welcoming students to the course. In the revised version, I try to explain what they would do over the semester and why that work is important to their longer-term academic and professional goals in clear and student-friendly language.
Syllabus as a Creative Document. One of my most popular posts over the past two-and-a-half years is making your syllabi more creative and engaging. While creating infographics isn’t for everybody, thinking about the presentation - from visual support to the tone you use - doesn’t require any special software. This is a great strategy for helping students more easily identify the most urgent and important information (noting that these two are not necessarily the same thing) while still including the institution-required components.
Want to dive in a little deeper?
Explore this online, asynchronous course, Syllabus as a Tool to Promote Promote Student Equity, Belonging, and Growth, created by the Student Experience Project.
This online module consists of a number of recorded videos to demonstrate practical tips for developing syllabi, as well as activities that will help you apply these concepts to your own syllabus. It should take approximately 90 minutes to watch the videos and complete the activities, plus time to revising your syllabus.
For more reading…
The State of the Syllabus special edition of the journal Syllabus offers a list of brief (~500 word) essays on a variety of viewpoints.
Harvard University’s Bok Center for Teaching and Learning has an overview of the functions of a syllabus
Want to evaluate your syllabus? The University of Virginia has a helpful rubric (with many supplemental materials) for evaluating whether your syllabus is learner-centered. This would be a great activity for a small department or group of colleagues to tackle together!
What’s one thing you’re doing differently this fall with your syllabi?
Next week I’ll share some tips for time management and workload planning, just in time to develop some good habits for the fall, and in two weeks we’ll look at first-day and first-week activities for a strong start to the semester.
Finally, I invite you to join me in supporting the Faculty and Students Together (FAST) Fund by becoming a paid subscriber. Last summer, I donated to the Northern Virginia Community College’s Emergency Student Aid fund. This fall, all newsletter subscriptions will go towards a goal of donating $1,000 by the end of the calendar year to the FAST Fund organization, which provides emergency aid grants to students across the country.
Hi Brena, I wanted to inquire on any piece you’ve written about developing syllabi that are welcoming to transfer students and include transfer student resources. I know many in the field we’re on the lookout for resources like this. I would love to read anything that you’ve written on this or that are familiar with. If not I’d love to chat about a future collaboration.
Thank you for the consideration,
Heather Adams
Heather.adams@aspeninstitute.org